Statehouse Insider: Rauner sets achievable budget goals

Doug Finke GateHouse Media Illinois

Saturday

Apr 14, 2018 at 6:07 PM

Sometimes the key to success is to set achievable goals. Or another way of putting it is to set the bar low enough you can’t fail.

Which brings us to Gov. Bruce Rauner's budget goals for the spring session. He’s set out three things he wants from the budget lawmakers craft this year: That it be for a full year, that it be balanced and that it not include any new taxes.

That’s not exactly a lofty list. For one, even though some Republicans keep pushing the idea the Democrats will pass only a half-year budget, there appears to be no desire by them to do that. The Democrats fully expect J.B. Pritzker to get elected governor this year and they don’t want him to start his term facing a budget crisis.

For two, lawmakers approved a 32 percent increase in the state income tax last year. Rauner has and will use it as a focus for attacking Democrats this year. Most lawmakers are up for election this year. Does anyone seriously think anyone is going to vote for another tax hike this year? So the governor has already achieved this goal.

Finally, we have the question of the whole mess being balanced. As anyone knows, balanced is in the eye of the beholder. Majority party lawmakers will tell you they pass balanced budgets all of the time. Rauner, on the other hand, insists each of his budget proposals was balanced when he proposed them. Few outside of government believe either of them.

So everyone can just agree whatever passes is balanced and voila, goals achieved

Both were in a Springfield restaurant Wednesday night and Rauner stopped by Ives’ table long enough to say hello. On this much there seems to be agreement. After that, not so much.

Rauner said that during this brief encounter, the two agreed to meet again to talk about things and make nice after the contentious Republican primary. Ives’ camp said no such agreement was made.

You have to wonder at this point if it might be better that the two never get together to resolve their differences. The conflicting stories likely to emerge from such a meeting probably would set unity back another decade.

* ”We haven’t done any hard work in this committee at all. We should all be pretty much ashamed by ourselves.” Ives on the House Personnel and Pensions Committee, assessing what the committee has done, or not, to control state pension costs this year.

* The Department of Corrections went before a Senate budget panel last week and said it needs more than $400 million in additional appropriation authority to get through the rest of this fiscal year.

That’s a serious problem. Some Democrats expressed surprise at the news and criticized department officials for not opening their testimony about the dire situation they face.

Please spare us the mock horror and other theatrics. The fact Corrections was short about $400 million in the current budget was not new. Rauner Budget Director Hans Zigmund testified to the same committee on Feb. 6 that a supplemental spending bill was needed, including for Corrections. Zigmund was asked when Corrections would run out of spending authority without the additional bill and he replied, ”Pretty soon.” That was early February.

It’s not because Republicans have dragged their feet on this. Bills were introduced in both the House and Senate in mid-February to address the problem. Neither has moved an inch since.

There are plenty of things out there to play politics with if that’s the desire. Messing around with the prison system and its ability to keep the bad guys where they belong maybe isn’t the wisest choice.